Sena Kalyan Sangstha wants permanent income tax waiver
Asif Showkat Kallol || BusinessInsider
Sena Kalyan Sangstha logo
Sena Kalyan Sangstha, a trust owned and operated by Bangladesh Army, has sought a permanent income tax waiver for their Sangstha and all of their projects, an official of the National Board of Revenue, said.
SKS owns a number of businesses entities including travel agencies, electronics, cement factories and ice cream companies. The sangstha is a trust and is also running Five-Starred 'Radisson Blu' hotel in the hospitality sector in Bangladesh.
The head of finance of the SKS, on behalf of Chairman of the Sangstha, recently sent a letter to Armed Forces Division under the Prime Minister's Office and an acknowledgement was also sent to the Chairman of NBR, Abu Hena Md. Rahmatul Muneem and senior secretary of finance division of the finance ministry, Abdur Rouf Talukder to waive income taxes of the Sena Kalyan Sangstha.
An NBR official, requesting anonymity, said, "We have examined the Sena Kalyan Sangstha proposal for permanent tax waiver".
The NBR is also now looking into the earning of the different business entities of the SKS, an official said.
According to the letter, the income of this organisation (Sena Kalyan Sangstha) is used for the welfare of retired members of the armed forces and their dependents, bear medical and education expenses of the dependents, pay old age allowances to its members.
In recognition of the welfare activities mentioned by the Sangstha, the income tax of all its projects was exempted from 1971 to 2002.
Income tax exemption on all Sangstha was revoked as a political government came to power thereafter.
The SKS letter also mentions that through various SROs of July 2003, during the tenure of the erstwhile government, income tax exemption was withdrawn on all other institutions of Sena Kalyan Sangstha except Sangstha building in Dhaka and Sangstha building in Khulna.
As a result, it is being difficult for the Sena Kalayan Sangstha to manage the welfare oriented activities of the retired armed forces members.
In the current context and following the spread of the deadly Coronavirus, “all our industries have faced challenges in terms of reality. In addition, due to the financial crisis, the bank loans have been gradually increasing and the size of the company's welfare-oriented activities has been limited,” the letter added.
It said Sena Kalyan Sangstha (SKS) has so far disbursed Tk 438.80 crore for the welfare of retired armed forces personnel.
Meanwhile, the government exempted the Army Welfare Trust from the income tax provision as per the Income Tax Ordinance 1984 enacted by SRO on 22 February, 2007. Accordingly, the Sena Kalyan Sanstha may be granted such exemption, it argued.
Besides, Sena Kalyan Sangstha also runs CSR activities with the help of different commercial banks, the letter said.
The organisation started in 1953 when Bangladesh was a part of Pakistan as the East Pakistan Fauji Foundation. After the independence of Bangladesh, it was renamed SKS in 1972. It is headquartered in Dhaka in a 23-storey building- Sena Kalyan Bhaban.
It also owns companies that include Savoy Ice cream, Energy Savings Lamp, Habib fan, Citizen Fridge, Elephant cement, television and transformer factory.
In 2016, the trust signed a MOU with Bawani group of Saudi Arabia to export manpower. In 2015, the trust launched Sena Kalyan Travels and Tours, a travel agency. The trust also owns a Liquefied petroleum gas plant.
In May 19, 2021, the Sena Kalyan Insurance, a concern of SKS, under the Bangladesh Armed Forces, wanted to raise fund from the members of public by issuing 1.6 crore ordinary shares at a face value of Tk10 each aggregating Tk16 crore.